Spelling Bee Buzzes To Top Of Week’s Twitter TV Ratings

The Scripps National Spelling Bee spelled a win for ESPN in the weekly Twitter TV ratings from Nielsen for series and specials, with posts about the contest reaching more than 4.2 million unique audience members, tops in the Series & Specials category. HBO’s powerhouse Game Of Thrones, a weekly contender for the Top 10, grabbed second with another shocker ending that set Twitter digits a-tapping, while reality competitions dominated most of the rest of the list, beginning with two episodes of The Bachelorette, at Nos. 3 and 7. WWE wrestled its way back into the bottom of the top with a pay-per-view event at No. 9 and its usual Monday Night Raw show on USA grabbing the tenth spot.

On the sports side, NBA basketball continued its playoffs-driven domination of that top 10, with five of the six top-rated Twitter audiences talking about its conference championship games. The May 30 matchup between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers attracted 1.28 million tweets seen by 7.5 million Twitter users. NHL hockey for a second week forechecked its way into the Top 10, netting the other four spots with fans talking about that league’s competitive conference championships. Both leagues now have their championship series matchups set. With little else of sporting note on the week’s horizon, it’ll be fun to see if the NBA Finals between the franchises in the relatively small Miami and San Antonio markets can fend off the NHL Stanley Cup Final featuring franchises from the top two U.S. TV markets, New York and Los Angeles. Let the games begin.